Mayor’s Update August 5th

Ocean City learned last week that our community has achieved Class 5 in the National Flood Insurance Program’s Community Rating System (CRS).

That means all policy holders in Ocean City now receive a 25 percent discount on their flood insurance. The CRS program rewards towns that take action to make properties less vulnerable to flooding. The new rating means Ocean City’s 17,019 policy holders collectively save more than $2.8 million every year – an average savings of $165 per participating home. Any policy that renews after May 1, 2016 will see the savings.

Ocean City has a Floodplain Management Committee made up of city team members, community members and experts working to suggest new building regulations, flood protection measures, educational efforts and other activities to reduce the potential risk of flood damage. Ocean City joins 13 other New Jersey communities at Class 5, the lowest (best) attained by any municipality in the state. The team is already hard at work on actions that could lead to a Class 4 rating, which would deliver another 5 percent savings. We should all applaud their success and wish them the best in their continued efforts.

Opening ceremonies for the 2016 Olympic Summer Games are tonight, and the Route 52 causeway bridges will be lit in red, white and blue. I want to wish all our nation’s athletes a safe and successful Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Finally, I’d like to remind everybody that Ocean City will host a Green Fair 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday (Aug. 8) on the Ocean City Music Pier. The community-wide event is sponsored by Ocean City in conjunction with the Environmental Commission and is designed to educate and encourage people of all ages to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle. I hope you all get a chance to attend.

Latest News

In 1968, the Wiesenthal brothers, Don and Glenn, were beginning their more than a half century of auto repair and gasoline sales at 860 West Avenue – the highly visible corner of Ninth Street and West Avenue in Ocean City.
Although the brothers had hoped to continue to stay in business, their attempts to buy the building were unsuccessful, and they lost their lease. The building, at a site occupied by a gasoline station since 1935, Don Wiesenthal said, is slated for demolition.
The location will soon be the site of a bank and a parking lot.